Washing-knuckle



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER XVARNER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

WASHING-KNUCKLE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 32,932, dated July 30, 1861.

To all whom it' may concern.'

Re it known that I, ALEX. VARNER, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invent-ed a new and improved implement or device for facilitating the manual operation of clothes-washing, and which implement or device l term a waslling-lniuckleg and T do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and eXact description of the sar e, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side view of my invention. Fig. 9. is an'inverted plan of the same. Figs. 3 and et are sections showing a modification of the same. i

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The object of this invention is to obtain a simple and efficient device to facilitate and lessen the labor of washing clothes by hand, said device being a substitute for the knuckles hitherto employed for rubbing and pressing the clothes on the washboard.

The invention consists in the employment or use of a series of rollers applied to a suitable hand-piece or stock, and arranged substantially as hereinafter shown and described to elllect the desired end.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention I will proceed to describe it.

A represents a suitable stock or hand-piece which may be of wood with a leather strap B, attached to its back or npper surface under which the hand of the operator is passed in grasping the stock. The stock is made concave at its back pirt, as shown at a, so that the back part of the palm of the hand may fit therein, the ends of the fingers projecting over the front of the stock see Fig. l, in which the hand of the operator is shown in red outline.

To each side of the stock or hand-piece A, there is secured a side piece o. These side pieces extend down at each side of the stock below its under surface, and holes c, are made in the sidepieces to receive the journals al, of rollers C. Any suitable number of rollers C, may be used-ve are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, of cylindrical form. The center roller C, has its aXis at right angles with the side-pieces b, Y), but the rollers at each side of it have their axes oblique with the side-pieces b, b, as shown clearly in Fig. Q, and the oblique rollers at one end of the device have a reverse position with those at the opposite end. This oblique position of the rollers effect an important result-it prevents the rollers from turning too readily in the stock, and consequently combines a rubbing as well as a pressing action. If the rollers were all placed at right angles with the side pieces b, b, they would simply turn without producing any rubbing action on the clothes.

The device may be used with an ordinary washboard or the clothes may be placed on any plane surface. The object in having the oblique rollers placed in reverse positions is to prevent a lateral movement of the device during the rubbing operation. If the oblique rollers were all placed in the saine position they would have a tendency to guide the stock to one side. The same result may be obtained by using conical rollers C, instead of oblique cylindrical ones, the axes of the conical rollers being so placed as to bring the lower surfaces of the rollers at right angles with the lower edges of the side-pieces ZJ, Z ,see Figs. 3 and 4.

This device will answer admirably for camp purposes, as the clothes may be placed on any tolerably` smooth surface,'and be operated upon effectively, and without injury to the clothes. The clothes also may be Very quickly aswell as perfectly cleansed.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A stock or hand-piece provided with rollers of cylindrical or conical form, arranged as shown to operate as and for the purpose set forth.

ALEXANDER WARNER. Witnesses:

M. M. LIVINGSTON, JAMES LAIRD. 

